http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
KENNEDY WON the 1960 presidential election by 112,803 votes. The
evidence of fraud was so overwhelming that even mild-mannered Ike urged his
vice president to challenge the votes. Most experts felt Nixon had really
won by 250,000 votes. Nixon, a man with the fiber of a felon and the
vocabulary of a longshoreman, declined to do so because the rest of the world
was watching. Democracy doesn't set aside votes.

So strong were Nixon's position and desire to avoid a "constitutional
nightmare" that he even asked the New York Herald Tribune to discontinue its
twelve-part series on voter fraud. Mr. Nixon was a statesman and a
gentleman. In lay terms, he had class.

In the 2000 elections, Senator John Ashcroft of Missouri lost his bid for
reelection to the deceased governor, Mel Carnahan. It has been some time
since I checked the constitution as well as the plan of salvation, but I
don't believe a dead man is a resident of Missouri for purposes of Senate
qualifications, although there are arguably a few current senators who push
the envelope, definitionally speaking. Further, a Democratic judge ordered
the polls in St. Louis held open until 10:00 PM in a close election (the
deceased apparently run a heck of a campaign) and those precincts proved a
deciding factor. If ever a candidate deserved a review for election
impropriety, it is Senator Ashcroft. He has conceded and wants no part of
any legal challenges. Senator Ashcroft is a statesman and a gentleman. He
is a call act.

History is replete with statesmanship. Even General Cornwallis sent a
lackey out with the white flag. Sylvester Stallone learned that five Rocky
films were enough. But, shy of a wooden stake through the heart, Al Gore
will not go gently into that concession speech.

Mr. Gore behaves as if Jimmy and Bobby just finished a close election for
the prom king. The high school cliques are out in full force. There is the
Palm Beach coterie, representing the less cerebral of high school, who can't
figure out how to vote. There is the Jesse Jackson traveling protest show
representing the high school dweebs with marginal causes. The cat fur flies,
the claws are out and Warren Christopher has sacrificed his statesmanship to
lead the three-ring circus.

But high school elections don't involve the Dow or national security.
When Mr. Christopher and Bill Daley (isn't it ironic that someone born and
bred in Chicago politics leads the charge on election irregularities?) held
their Thursday press conference to rattle their sabers about litigation, the
market took a near 300-point dive. Saddam Hussein is gleefully plotting
seizing the leadership void moment. Milosevic must be kicking himself for
not thinking of trial lawyers as a way around an election.

The spin doctors of l'affaire Monica are out and about. Their facts are
as accurate now as they were then. The 19,000 disenfranchised voters, they
moan. That figure represents discarded ballots but cannot be equated with a
non-vote. Poll workers have indicated ballots are tossed, as 15,000 were in
1996, because others are given to voters who couldn't handle the pressure of
punching on the first try. There are too many votes, they say, for Pat
Buchanan in Palm Beach County. They don't disclose that third-party
registrations there reveal it to be a hot bed of activism, and Mr. Buchanan
earned similar numbers in 1996. My favorite spin was that in another county,
312 folks voted Libertarian and there are only 108 registered Libertarians in
that county. There's a new general election prohibition on crossing party
lines?

The spin never alludes to the long-term implications of Mr. Gore's
sophomoric conduct and his minions' rhetoric. Imagine elections decided by
the courts that have given us the McDonald's hot coffee damages, found
abortion rights in the Fourth Amendment, and imposed employer liability for
sexual harassment even when the employee doesn't complain. Judicial
intervention makes voting moot. Judicial intervention gives one man power
over election outcomes. The dynamics of an election don't permit do-overs,
nor does the constitution, spin doctors' theories and assertions aside.

Absent fraud or illegality, and there is no evidence of such here, elections
stand.

No one denies that the election was close. No one denies that voters
made mistakes. No one denies the recount right in Florida. But recounts in
Oregon, New Mexico, Iowa and Wisconsin might also yield different numbers.
But this is not a student council election - this is the presidency.

We are in this jumbled mess because Mr. Gore is not presidential
material. He not only lacks the stuff of statesmen, he lacks class. Like
his mentor president, he finds honor in the ends, not the means. Al of the
first and third debate, who wants two closing statements, shoves his way onto
the stage as his opponent still speaks, raises his hand too often, and wants
a win at any cost has emerged. The cost is high as he plummets markets and
makes the United States vulnerable on the world stage. Be a statesman, Mr.
Gore.

For once, be a
statesman.

JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State
University. Send your comments by clicking here.

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